Contents

Like many a great epic, Star Wars is rooted in a rich history of armed conflict. Now, for the first time, the facts, figures, and fascinating backstories of major clashes and combatants in the vast Star Wars universe have been documented in one fully illustrated volume. Extensively researched and inventively written, Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare combines action-filled narrative with encyclopedic knowledge that

Encompassing all the Star Wars media, including the legendary films, the hit TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the bestselling books, comics, and videogames, and packed with original full-color artwork, Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare is a conquering achievement.

The book was first announced as The Essential Guide to the Star Wars Military by Karen Traviss on her website on August 5, 2008. Traviss later decided to end her Star Wars writing days with Imperial Commando: 501st. Sue Rostoni confirmed in August 2009 that The Essential Guide to the Star Wars Military was to be written by a different author.[4] In May 2010, Rostoni released a publishing calendar that showed the newly retitled Essential Guide to Warfare with a June 2011 release date.[5] In January 2011, Rostoni announced that the release date had been pushed back to March 20, 2012; however, in August 2011, the date was again pushed back to May 22, 2012.[6] In December 2011, what would be the actual release date of April 3, 2012 was announced.[1]

Before the book was finished, author Jason Fry had mentioned details from the ongoing drafts on TheForce.net's Literature discussion boards. "All plans are subject to change, and I routinely append 'as drafted' to anything I say about works in progress, but some of the recurring features envisioned for WARFARE include soldier's [sic] stories (which won't be all first-person—the one for the Zhell/Taungs conflict has a Gilgamesh feel); portraits of great war leaders; discussions of key technologies, ships, weapons and military units; and lessons/overviews of key battles."[7]